The present invention relates generally to concrete products, and more particularly, to a method of imprinting a visual and textural decorative pattern upon a concrete surface.
As is well known in the building and construction trade, concrete is extensively utilized as a building material for industrial, commercial and residential applications. Due to its durability, water resistance, and cost economy, concrete has gained wide spread use in flooring applications. As a result of wide spread use and popularity, the market is currently demanding concrete surfaces that have an improved aesthetic appeal with limited imperfections and irregularities. Common imperfections include blowholes, or minor lines and cracks that may form while the concrete is cured.
In order to meet this demand, the concrete trade has developed various coloring and surface finishing techniques designed to enhance the aesthetic appeal of concrete surfaces while masking imperfections and irregularities that may exist in the exposed surface areas. An example of such a finishing technique includes push broom finishes. Familiar push brooms such as are commonly used in sweeping floors are pulled across the drying concrete surface, leaving a pattern formed by the bristles as they pass across. Such brooms will ordinarily be found to possess threaded apertures into which a handle with perhaps one or more extensions may be fitted. The resultant bristled appearance provides a generic broom pattern across the concrete surface and serves to hide irregularities and imperfections that may exist thereupon. However, the bristled appearance left by the push brooms is often undesirable as it is not aesthetically pleasing and fails to provide any variations in depth, size, or diameter within the contours of the texture. Additionally, a push broom is increasingly unwieldly and it being the general experience that a push broom is unable to provide a consistent uniform finish across the surface.
Another known method of providing visual and textural effects to a concrete surface is the exposed aggregate method. The exposed aggregate method may be used to diminish the appearance of imperfections within a concrete surface while creating an aesthetically appealing application of concrete. Applicant has conducted extensive research and has developed a variety of methods improving upon the exposed aggregate method, including a variety of surface seeded exposed aggregate products and methods. In particular, several of these methods and products are described in Applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,748,788, 6,016,635, 6,033,146, and U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2007/02346, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In a particular surface seeded exposed method, subsequent to pouring the concrete, rock or gravel aggregate is scattered (i.e. broadcasted or seeded) over the top surface of the concrete and subsequently troweled into the same. As the concrete cures, the aggregate becomes adhered to the top surface of the concrete and is thus exposed. Although various sizes of aggregate can be broadcast over the top surface of the concrete in this method, such aggregate is normally of about three-eighths inch diameter or greater in size, and has sheared or jagged edges. The size and shape of the aggregate allows it to be worked into the top surface of the concrete and adequately adhered thereto. Applicant's techniques as described in the above-mentioned patents overcame many of the deficiencies of the prior art and produced improved surface finishes on surface seeded exposed aggregate concrete. In particular, the concrete resultant from practice of the above-mentioned patents exhibits an extremely flat exposed aggregate surface suitable for extremely high traffic flooring applications.
A requisite feature of surface seeded exposed aggregate is the addition of aggregates to the concrete surface. Therefore, there is a need in the art for applying a visual and textural decorative pattern upon a concrete surface capable of concealing imperfections or irregularities thereupon.